Teemto Pagalies (Pod Racer) - SW [S - P1] - Basic (’02 #46)

After rescuing Queen Amidala from the impending invasion of Naboo, Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discover Anakin Skywalker, a nine-year-old slave unusually strong in the Force, on Tatooine. The heroes return to Naboo where Anakin and the Queen face massive invasion forces, while the two Jedi fight the evil Darth Maul and realize that the invasion is the first step in a sinister scheme by the dark forces known as the Sith.

Proud of his new electro-magnet stabilizer, Teemto Pagalies is entering his barely tested Podracer in the Boonta Eve Classic, believing that it will give him the winning edge.

If there was one thing that most collectors could cohesively agree upon as far as the Episode I line was concerned (who were fans of Episode I at least), was that Hasbro didn’t produce nearly enough podracing pilots. it’s not that we had vehicles waiting for them, but it seemed that there were a plethora of these aliens and many of us wanted to see Hasbro beat them out briskly into the 3.75” basic figure line. Sadly, Hasbro didn’t step up to the plate and create another podracer pilot outside of the Episode I line until 2002’s Star Wars “Saga” line, in which they introduced the collecting world to Teemto Pagalies (Pod Racer). Like so many other figures in the line, Teemto Pagalies (Pod Racer) is a much better action figure because of what else comes packaged with him, not the actual basic figure himself. It is the inclusion of this extra plastic that makes the less-than-five-dollar purchase more than worth its weight in plastic. And in actuality, Teemto Pagalies (Pod Racer) isn’t that half bad of an action figure, but it’s far from perfect and you’re going to want an update one day.

Teemto Pagalies (Pod Racer) comes with a minimal six points of articulation. This is “just enough” articulation for any action figure generally, but he comes with legs that haven’t been sculpted in a way that are flush to the floor. This means that posing him is a chore, however, it’s not completely impossible. The sculpt is decent for the most part. He looks much too cartoony, but that is clearly intentional as all of the pod racer pilots were computer generated images in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and had an “animated” appearance to them. That has certainly been replicated well. The sculpt is good, the paint job is fair and aside from a pouch that looks like bull’s scrotum hanging from his waist, we really can’t find much to complain about here, save for the small amount of articulation. As we have previously mentioned, the stars of the set are the accessories. He comes with removable goggles. The fit well, but are cloudy and it’s hard to see his eyes through them while he is wearing them. But the other two accessories are the real gems.

Hasbro has added what can be considered a second figure in the set. A complete maintenance spider droid is also included. Not only is it a fantastic and realistic sculpt, it has articulation and an action feature (which interestingly works well in this instance). If you press the top of the droid’s head, the legs spread out to recreate a walking “motion” and it looks great. All four legs on the maintenance spider droid are removable, but be careful as reports of breakage through force have come to light. The other fantastic accessory is the pod racer engine debris section. It is so well designed that we’re almost flabbergasted over it. It is literally one of the finest diorama decorations we can think of and that’s saying quite a bit with the long list of products has made throughout the years. Teemto Pagalies (Pod Racer) isn’t an award-winning action figure by any means, but we just want to make it clear that the money you spend on a basic figure doesn’t necessarily have to solely apply to that figure. The stuff it comes with could be the true value. This is a figure to consider, but just keep in mind it’s not one of their best.